Minutes of the Drug-Education and Drug-Testing Subcommittee Meeting

MINUTES OF THE

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

DRUG-EDUCATION AND DRUG-TESTING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING

NCAA National Office

December 2-4, 2001

Indianapolis, Indiana

Participants:

Dewayne Barnes, Whittier College

Peter D. Carlon, University of Texas, Arlington

Lauren Costello, Princeton University

Gary A. Green, University of California, Los Angeles, chair

Arnold Mazur, Boston College

Rochel Rittgers, Augustana College (Illinois)

Darryl D. Rogers, Southern Connecticut State University

Mary E. Wilfert, NCAA

Pam Gill-Fisher, University of California, Davis, was not able to attend the meeting.

Elsa Cole, NCAA general counsel; Denise DeHass, NCAA research coordinator; Laura Wurtz,

NCAA student-athlete reinstatement representative; Bryan Smith, CSMAS chair, Nicole Porter and Amy Barr, sports safety subcommittee members; and Frank Uryasz and Andrea Wickerham, The National Center for Drug Free Sport, were in attendance for portions of this meeting.

[Note: These minutes contain only actions taken (formal votes or stated “sense of the meeting”) in accordance with NCAA policy regarding minutes of all Association entities. While certain items on the committee’s agenda were acted on at various times throughout the meeting, all final actions within a given topic are combined in these minutes for convenience of reference.]

Monday, December 3

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. by the chair, Dr. Green. All members were present as noted above.

1. Introductions and Updates. The chair welcomed new subcommittee member Lauren Costello and the consultants from The National Center for Drug Free Sport.

2. Previous Minutes. The subcommittee reviewed and approved the minutes of its June 2001 meeting. It was noted that the UCLA lab training approved and scheduled for September was postponed due to the September 11 attacks. The subcommittee supported rescheduling the training in the spring 2002, potentially for April 21-22 or April 28-29.

3. Governance Reports. The subcommittee reviewed the progress of its recommendations to the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, NCAA Divisions II and III Management Councils, and to the Executive Committee.

4. Drug Education Budget. The subcommittee reviewed the current drug-education budget, and recommended reallocations within the budget to fund a mini pilot of the ATLAS program by granting $2000 to four institutions to participate. The subcommittee restated its support for the speakers grant program and for increasing the maximum for individual grants if approved in the NCAA Association-wide budget process. The subcommittee also noted that future funding for drug-education programs may be allocated through a call-for-proposal for promising programs, or for evaluation of existing programs.

5. Alcohol Issues.

a. Teaching Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM). The subcommittee received an update on the NCAA’s relationship with the TEAM Coalition, noting that the NCAA has been invited to continue its participation in the TEAM coalition without paying the $15,000 dues.

b. Speakers Grant. The subcommittee received a report identifying the schools and programs approved for the speakers grant in the fall 2001.

c. Athletic Prevention Programming and Leadership Education (APPLE) Conferences. The subcommittee received the 2001 APPLE Conference spring follow-up report. The subcommittee requested more data be provided to identify the objectives and measures of success of those attending the APPLE conference, and a conference satisfaction measure of attendees. The subcommittee directed NCAA staff to develop an evaluation tool to assess the above, and to implement with past attendees.

d. CHOICES Report. The subcommittee received a copy of the 2002 CHOICES guidelines and call-for-proposal.

e. Betty Ford Professional in Residence (PIR) Program. The subcommittee received a report on the number of applicants for the 2002 PIR seats, noting the need for more male applicants.

f. Student-Athletes Taking Active Responsible Roles (STARR). The subcommittee received a written update on the NCAA Division III STARR Pilot Project.

6. Tobacco Issues. Pete Carlon reported that the Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) did not discuss the NCAA tobacco ban in the summer meeting, as hoped, but have agreed to address the issue when they meet at the 2002 NCAA Convention. Mr. Carlon will provide the CCA chair with “talking points” to assist in the discussions at the CCA meeting.

7. Other Drug Issues:

a. The subcommittee received a written update from Pam Gill-Fisher regarding the obstacles encountered in implementing The ATLAS pilot for college student-athletes. These included a commitment of personnel to administer the program. The subcommittee recommends providing $2000 incentive funding each to four member institutions who agree to pilot ATLAS.

b. The National Center for Drug Free Sport has received the programs from Oregon State University for the drug-education Web site and plans to launch the site by January 2002.

8. Outreach. The subcommittee received a report on the NCAA presence at the U.S. Department of Education’s annual National Meeting on Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention. The subcommittee recommends that staff explore collaborating with NCAA research to submit the NCAA drug use survey for the 2002 meeting.

9. 2001 NCAA Drug-Education and Drug-Testing Survey. Denise DeHass, NCAA research staff, presented a preliminary report from the fall survey. The subcommittee chair recommended that subcommittee members receive a final report in March and recommend any changes in the June 2002 meeting.

10. The National Center for Drug Free Sport (The Center). Frank Uryasz and Andrea Wickerham, of The Center, presented a report of the following activities:

a. The August - December 2000 drug-testing results will be reported to the NCAA governing bodies as a year-long aggregate report following the receipt of the January-June 2001 results.

b. The overview of NCAA Drug-Testing Programs was presented to the NCAA Executive Committee as requested.

c. The Center continues to provide a case report on each drug-test appeal heard by the subcommittee as part of the appeals database.

d. The Dietary Supplement Resource Exchange Center (REC) continues to experience growing usage rates. The REC has tracked an increase in the number of inquiries dealing with Advocare products.

e. The Center is prepared to begin the no-penalty drug testing of NCAA Division II baseball in January 2002.

f. The Center hosted a meeting with the National Football League (NFL), the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the NCAA during the summer to explore a replacement lab for sports drug-testing with the demise of the Indiana University lab. The NFL has identified two lab candidates and will schedule site visits to further assess their potential.

g. The Center presented revisions to the NCAA Drug-Testing Protocol to accommodate the new paperless collection process the Center will use starting with 2002-03 collections.

11. Changes to the Banned Substance List. The subcommittee reviewed a recommendation to add creatine to the NCAA list of banned substances. The subcommittee felt they did not have adequate data to support this recommendation.

12. Drug-Testing Protocol Changes. The NCAA drug-testing protocol will be revised to reflect the following:

a. Accommodate changes to the collection process.

b. Clarify that the student-athlete must be declared ineligible at the time the institution is notified of the confirmed positive drug test.

c. Allow a medical exception procedure to be considered for a student-athlete coming into the NCAA with a positive drug-test ban from an outside sports governing body for the use of medication.

The subcommittee declined to recommend a change to the protocol, which would have allowed an advance drug-testing waiver for medication.

13. Drug-Testing Forms.

a. Consent Form. The subcommittee recommends a change to the drug-testing consent form so that in the introduction on the form states “Per NCAA Bylaw 30.5 (b), the director of athletics or the director of athletics’ designee shall disseminate a copy of the list of banned drug classes to each student-athlete.” The committee notes that on drug-testing appeals calls and in discussions with student-athletes, the list of banned drug classes is not always given to student-athletes, as required by legislation. The committee feels adding this bold statement at the beginning of the drug-testing consent form will remind athletics departments of this requirement and contribute to the deterrence of drug abuse.

b. Student-Athlete Statement. The subcommittee recommends adding the following phrase “by the NCAA and/or” to the student-athlete statement, Part IV: Results of Drug Tests, as follows, effective August 2002: “You affirm that you have not tested positive for banned substances by the NCAA and/or by a non NCAA national or international athletics organization.” This change will help to clarify the need for an exit test at the end of the period of ineligibility for a student-athlete who transfers while under an NCAA drug-test penalty.

14. Drug-Testing Issues.

a. Graded Penalties for Positive Drug Tests. After exploring options for changes to the drug-testing penalty structure and implications for application with Laura Wurtz, student-athlete reinstatement representative, the subcommittee recommended not to create a graded penalty structure. The subcommittee instead recommended drafting an “early review” process that would consider a suspension of the year-long drug-test penalty at an earlier interval. Dr. Green will draft the protocol for the subcommittee review at its June meeting.

b. Positive Drug Tests from International Sports Governing Bodies. The subcommittee deferred this discussion for the June 2002 meeting.

c. Student-Athlete Eligibility Pending an Appeal. The subcommittee recommends a revision to the drug-testing protocol to clarify that at the time of the notice of the confirmation of a positive drug test, the institution is obligated to declare the student-athlete ineligible. Mr. Uryasz will develop the protocol language.

d. The subcommittee confirmed in the case of an institution requesting the testing of a product for contamination with a banned substance, the institution would bear the cost of the test.

e. The subcommittee recommended adding ephedrine to the panel of substances tested in the year-round program. The committee is concerned about the negative health impact of ephedrine; this concern was heightened by reports of potential ephedrine use by student-athletes who experienced medical emergencies this past football season. This change will necessitate an increased cost per drug test of approximately $27, requiring a total budget increase of approximately $250,000 for the current 9000 tests conducted each year in the year-round program. The committee has prioritized this budget item as the top priority for new funding, and second behind the continued funding of the enhancement of the Injury Surveillance System.

f. The subcommittee voted to resubmit, for management council approval, the elimination of the drug-testing announcement at the mandatory pre-championship administrator/coaches meeting as a deterrent to ergogenic drug use, effective August 2002. The committee believes there is no compelling reason for schools or student-athletes to know ahead of time whether drug testing is being conducted at an NCAA championship event. Announcing the absence of drug testing at a championship event eliminates any deterrence of the use of short-acting banned drugs, such as ephedrine. The recommendation will be submitted with a stronger rationale to address the concerns of the management councils.

g. Statue of limitations in For-Cause Drug Tests. The subcommittee ruled there is no statute of limitations for testing a student-athlete for cause because of a positive drug-test by an outside sports governing body.

h. Hastings Institute for Bioethics. The subcommittee will consider a list of ethical issues in drug testing for discussion with Tom Murray of the Hastings Institute at the next meeting.